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Ved Prakash Arya, the chief executive of Indian private equity firm Milestone Capital, died in a freak accident, Reuters reported. He died of injuries sustained when a coconut tree fell on him during a morning walk in Versova, an upmarket Mumbai suburb.

DS Brar is joining Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. as a senior adviser. Brar will join the firm in Mumbai, where he will work with KKR on current and prospective investments with the firm. Brar serves on the boards of MphasiS Limited—a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard—Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and Moksha8. He is also special adviser to the board of directors of Adamas Pharmaceuticals Inc. and a consultant to Teva Pharmaceuticals

Charles Carmel has joined Warburg Pincus as a managing director in its San Francisco office. Carmel recently served as Cisco Systems’ vice president of corporate development. Carmel was one of Cisco’s top dealmakers, and led the tech giant’s acquisitions of WebEx and Scientific Atlanta.

Nelson Chai has been named president of CIT Group Inc., a publicly traded provider of financing to small businesses and middle market companies. He previously served as the company’s executive vice president, chief administrative officer and head of strategy. Chai will continue to oversee CIT’s infrastructure and operating architecture, including its technology platforms. He will also continue to lead strategic planning and business development.

Celia Clancy has named president and chief executive of Ashley Stewart, a maker of plus-sized clothing for women. Clancy was previously president of AJ Wright, and also worked as a senior operations consultant at private equity firm Cerberus. Ashley Stewart is based in Secaucus, N.J. GB Merchant Partners acquired Ashley Stewart in late 2010. Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Jeffrey A. Del Papa has joined TA Associates where he will be a senior vice president in the services group. Del Papa was previously with Thoma Bravo.

DeltaPoint Capital Management said Kevin Halpin was named managing director while Jason Hall was promoted to vice president.

Jonathan Firestein has been appointed head of private capital for Ascent Private Capital Management, a unit of U.S. Bank, the company’s wealth management arm that serves clients with $25 million or more. Firestein will lead the effort to construct the private capital investment platform for Ascent clients, including global investment strategies in venture capital, buyouts, private debt, real estate and real asset investment funds.

Michael Hines has joined Dunkin’ Brands board. He will also serve as chair of the audit committee. Dunkin’ Brands is owned by Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

Steve Judge has been named as interim president and chief executive officer of The Private Equity Growth Capital Council. Judge previously was the council’s vice president of government affairs. He replaces Douglas Lowenstein, who is stepping down as CEO as of Sept. 1. The Washington, D.C.-based group is searching for a permanent president and chief executive.

Ray LaSoya has joined the law firm Stroock & Stroock as a partner. He will be part of the Los Angeles office and will serve as the national chair of the firm’s Private Equity Practice Group.

Kristina Linde has been promoted to head of accounting at the Swedish buyout firm Ratos AB, effective Oct. 1. Linde has been with the firm for almost two years, and has been in charge of group accounts at the firm since January 2010, Ratos said in a written release. Earlier in her career, Linde worked as public accountant and accounting specialist at KPMG and as an auditor with the Swedish Tax Agency.

Daniel McCarthy has joined DeSilva+Phillips as a partner. He was chairman and CEO of Gallarus Media Holdings. DeSilva+Phillips, a media focused investment bank, also said that John Kaiser will now oversee the advertising and digital agency sectors, while Jessica Luterman Naeve will oversee social media and video. Kaiser and Naeve will co-head marketing services, the bank said.

Drew McCartney has joined BelHealth Investment Partners’ operating committee. Recently, McCartney served as the executive-in-residence at DW Healthcare Partners. Port Washington, N.Y.-based BelHealth is focused on small-cap companies in the health care industry.

Jeffery Moy has been named head of private equity at Rockefeller Financial. Moy will oversee of Rockefeller Financial’s private equity and venture capital program, including the selection and review of third-party managers, the review of client private equity portfolios and new business development, the firm announced. Moy was most recently a senior managing director at Liberty Mutual Investment Advisors.

Steven Nigro has joined Allegiance Capital, an investment bank focused on the lower mid-market, as a managing director. He worked previously as chief operating officer of Pfife Hudson Group Inc., an investment bank focused on financial services. He will be based in New York.

Michelle Pearlman has joined Irving Place Capital, a mid-market buyout firm, as senior adviser. She joins from Sears Holding Corp., where she was a senior vice president and president of the jewelry business unit. Previously, Pearlman worked as an executive vice president at Ann Taylor Inc. At Irving Place, she will help the firm’s portfolio companies with consumer marketing, retail operations, merchandising, e-commerce and digital and social media strategies.

Mitchell Quain has joined the board of directors of publicly traded Astro-Med Inc. Quain is a partner at private equity firm One Equity Partners. Previously, he was executive chairman of Register.com, and he currently serves on the boards of MagneTek, Handy & Harman, Titan International and Hardinge. Astro-Med is a manufacturer of specialty high tech printing systems, electronic medical instrumentation, and test and measurement data acquisition systems.

Nido Quebin, president of High Point University, has been elected to the board of directors of Cleveland-based Dots LLC, a fashion retailer included in the portfolio of private equity firm Irving Place Capital. Quebin’s other governance positions include board seats with BB&T and La-Z-Boy.

James Seagrave has joined Jefferies & Co. as a managing director in the global financial sponsors investment banking group. He will be based in London and will focus on coverage of UK based financial sponsors. Prior to this, Seagrave spent his whole career at J.P. Morgan where he recently was a managing director in their financial sponsors coverage group.

Robert Sheehey, former CEO of UnitedHealthcare, has joined the board of Evolution1, a provider of electronic payment and cloud computing services for health care reimbursement accounts, the company revealed. Evolution1 is a portfolio company of private equity firm Genstar Capital Partners.

Michael Sicuro, a former US Oncology executive, has been appointed CFO at CCS Medical, a portfolio company of Highland Capital Partners. Sicuro takes over for Steve Saft, who will remain with the organization during the transition phase. Sicuro also will be an executive vice president at the company.

James M. Spencer, the UBS financial institutions veteran, has joined Lazard, the listed New York investment bank as managing director of the company’s financial institutions group. Prior to joining UBS, Spencer was with Credit Suisse First Boston for five years. Spencer began his career in 1989 as a bank examiner for the FDIC.

Investor Garen Staglin has joined the board of directors SVB Financial Group, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank. Staglin, a private equity and venture investor and owner of the Staglin Family Vineyard, currently holds board or advisory positions with Bottomline Technologies, ExL Services, Freerun Technologies and FTV Capital, among other companies.

Eric Steele has joined Catalyst Investors as a senior analyst. He was formerly an investment banking senior analyst in the communications and media group of Stifel Nicolaus Weisel. Catalyst Investors is a growth private equity firm based in New York.

Mitch Truwit and Marcelo Gigliani, partners at Apax Partners, are joining Dealer.com’s board of directors, replacing Yellow Media’s Marc Tellier, Doug Clarke and Normand Theberge, who are stepping down from the company’s board as part of the company’s transfer of ownership.

David Webb has been named interim CEO at the Sports Authority, which is backed by Leonard Green & Co. Webb succeeds David Campisi, who resigned, Sports Authority, of Englewood, Colo., is a sporting goods retailer. In a related matter, Travis Smith was promoted to CEO at Jo-Ann Stores, which also is owned by Leonard Green & Partners, replacing Webb. Webb will retain his position as chairman of Jo-Ann’s board.